TYPEFORMS: A HISTORY

New Castle, Delaware and London: Oak Knoll Press and The British Library, 2007. cloth, dust jacket. 9.5 x 10 inches. cloth, dust jacket. 128 pages. First edition. This book is the long-awaited successor to the classic An Atlas of Typeforms, the great visually-led history of type that Alan Bartram and James Sutton produced in 1968. Much has changed in the last 40 years, not least the teaching of typography and the means by which it is created. Because current design methods do not require the drawing and tracing of letterforms in order to produce layouts, we have lost our close connection with them. Few understand their history, their appearance, and how and why they have developed as they have. Nearly 75 different types are shown in their original metal forms, just as they were in the Atlas of Typeforms. But an entirely new feature is the author's attempt to place the types in their historical context. By including photographs of contemporary inscriptions on buildings and monuments, Alan Bartram explores the relationship between printed and architectural letterforms and their parallel course from the Renaissance until Victorian times. The opportunities offered for graphic and type designers in the digital age are greater than ever before. But without an understanding of the visual make-up of letterforms and some knowledge of their fascinating history, designers cannot fully exploit the potential of type. In this book, Alan Bartram educates us in these critical areas.